News Shotgun 5/25/24
Here’s all the movie and TV news you need to know from the past week; It’s the News Shotgun.
RIP Morgan Spurlock: Documentarian Morgan Spurlock died this past week after battling cancer at age 53. Spurlock was best known for directing and starring in Super Size Me, in which he ate only McDonald’s for 30 days. He also created and starred in a documentary TV series, 30 Days, and other documentary movies like The Greatest Movie Ever Sold, Where in the World is Osama Bin Laden?, and 7 Deadly Sins.
Jeffrey Wright joins The Last of Us Season 2: Jeffrey Wright has joined the cast of The Last of Us Season 2, playing the character he played in The Last of Us: Part II, Isaac, the leader of the Washington Liberation Front, or WLF, whose members include Ellie’s nemesis Abby. Abby will be played by Kaitlyn Dever, with Bella Ramsey and Pedro Pascal returning as Ellie and Joel, respectively. The new season will not tackle all of Part II, and it’s not yet clear how the show will tackle the game’s dual storyline.
Rian Johnson reveals the title for the next Knives Out: The third entry in the Benoit Blanc mystery franchise has gotten a title, with writer/director Rian Johnson revealing that it will be Wake Up Dead Man. Daniel Craig is back as Southern fried private eye Benoit Blanc. The movie is the second part of Johnson’s deal with Netflix to bring the sequels to Knives Out to its streaming platform. Glass Onion was released in a limited number of theaters before debuting on streaming and was one of the most watched original Netflix movies with over 200 million hours watched in just the first ten days after its debut.
Dexter prequel series finds main cast: The Dexter prequel series, Dexter: Original Sin, has found its main cast. Patrick Gibson will play the younger Dexter Morgan, Christian Slater will play Dexter’s father, Harry, and Molly Brown will play the younger Debra Morgan. Michael C. Hall, James Remar, and Jennifer Carpenter played the roles in the original show. The show follows Dexter starting a forensic internship at the Miami Police Department while trying to control his dark urges with the help of his father and the “code” they develop to determine who Dexter should target while staying undetected.
Richard Jenkins joins Criminal: The upcoming Amazon series based on the Ed Brubaker/Sean Phillips graphic novel Criminal has found its first cast member with Richard Jenkins. Jenkins will play Ivan, “Leo’s dad’s best friend, and has always been an uncle figure to him. He used to be a robber and criminal, but is now currently suffering from dementia. Leo is trying to care for him but realizes he’s more work than he can handle.”
Amazon acquires action/comedy Brothers: In other Amazon news, the company acquired the upcoming action/comedy Brothers, starring Josh Brolin and Peter Dinklage. The movie follows “a reformed criminal (Brolin) whose attempt at going straight is derailed when he reunites with his sanity-testing twin brother (Dinklage) on a road trip for the score of a lifetime. Dodging bullets, the law, and an overbearing mother along the way, they must heal their severed family bond before they end up killing each other.” Brendan Fraser, Glenn Close, Taylour Paige, the late M. Emmet Walsh and Jennifer London co-star. The movie is directed by Max Barbakow, who previously directed Palm Springs.
Munsters reboot, Car Wash series in development: Universal is digging into the archives for two new original shows. The first is a reboot of The Munsters, codenamed “1313,” with James Wan as a producer. The show sounds like it might lean more toward horror and the classic Universal Monsterverse than all the previously highly comedic versions of The Munsters. The last version of The Munsters was Rob Zombie’s disastrous movie version, which was met with near-universal disdain. Universal International Studios is also developing a TV series based on Car Wash, the 1970s comedy movie. The new show will be an NBC sitcom and follow “an immigrant family’s generational and cultural clashes between father and son and their eclectic group of employees.”
Vision getting a Disney+ series: Paul Bettany is returning to the MCU with a new series on Disney+ focused on Vision. Terry Matalas, one of the executive producers of Star Trek: Picard, is showrunning the new series. The show will pick up from the season finale of Wandavision, where a ghostly white version of Vision receives the memories of the magically resurrected version of the original Vision and flies off to parts unknown.
X-Men MCU movie gets a screenwriter: The first major step toward the X-Men’s debut in the MCU has occurred with the movie getting a screenwriter. Michael Lesslie has been hired to write the film coming off The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes. He previously wrote Assassin’s Creed and Macbeth, both starring Michael Fassbender. He’s also currently working on Now You See Me 3.
Star Trek: Starfleet Academy casts Holly Hunter: Holly Hunter will star in the upcoming Star Trek series, Star Trek: Starfleet Academy. The show is set at the titular training facility, with Hunter playing the captain and chancellor. A group of young Starfleet cadets arrive at the school and begin their training, someday putting them on a starship as Starfleet officers.
Comcast streaming bundle announced: Comcast has announced a streaming bundle that will be available to their customers, which will bundle Netflix, Peacock, and Apple TV+ as an add-on. The new bundle is called the “StreamSaver” bundle and for an additional $15 a month on top of Xfinity TV or their broadband internet service, you have access to Netflix (with ads), Peacock Premium (with ads) and Apple TV+. Disney and Warner Bros. Discovery previously announced they would be teaming up for a bundle package that would include Max, Disney+, and Hulu that will be available this summer, and Disney, WBD, and Fox Corp are also teaming up for a sports streaming package called Venu that will debut in the fall.
Dolph Lundgren, Michael Jai White, and Charlotte Kirk join Fight or Flight: A new action thriller called Fight or Flight has cast Dolph Lundgren, Michael Jai White, and Charlotte Kirk to star. Shane Dex Taylor is directing the movie and follows, “Sam Hayden as an assassin of assassins, completing every assignment – no matter how dangerous with ruthless precision. Sam’s next assignment is to take out his legendarily ruthless predecessor, Charles Managold (Dolph Lundgren), who has fallen for his beautiful exotic mark and is now on the run with her. Sam is cold, professional and there is nothing that could sway him from his missing, not even the love of his life, Nona Messenger (Lina Maya) that is until Sam comes face to face, fist to fist with his legendary target and shocks himself by not taking out Managold. Now pursued by the world’/s number one hitman, Isaac (Michael Jai White), along with his own people, Sam must team up with Managold to take them on and stay alive.”
Genesis Rodriguez joins Lioness Season 2: Genesis Rodriguez is joining the cast of Taylor Sheridan’s Paramount+ series, Special Ops: Lioness for Season 2. Rodriguez will play Josephina Carrillo, “a dedicated soldier and skilled helicopter pilot with a fierce personality.” Zoe Saldana and Laysla De Oliveira star in the series, which is based on a real-life CIA program where female agents infiltrate terrorist organizations and bring them down from within.
The Sandman adds Season 2 cast members: Season 2 of Netflix’s The Sandman has found the final three siblings of the “Endless Family”, including star Tom Sturridge’s Dream. Esmé Creed-Miles was cast as Delirium, Adrian Lester as Destiny, and Barry Sloane as The Prodigal. The cast seems to indicate that the new season will be inspired by the storyline “Season of Mists.”
